Mayor’s Message: The Primaries, Webinar Tonight, the Waterfront, New Green Initiatives, and the Census
Posted on: June 23, 2020 - 6:48pm
Hi everyone,
A quick reminder that you can still vote in the primaries today, an interesting webinar that will be broadcast later this evening, some news about the Waterfront and information about a few new green initiatives we have been pursuing (despite the pandemic).
Today is Primary Election Day (there are still a few hours left to vote!)
Today is Primary Election Day and in-person voting for residents of our Village will take place at the ARDSLEY MIDDLE SCHOOL, 700 ASHFORD AVE. Polls are open till 9 p.m. tonight. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the local polling places are different than where you’ve voted in the past.
How Will Climate Change Affect Our Village? Discussion: Tonight, 8 to 9 pm
Tonight from 8 to 9 pm, there will be an online interactive workshop, sponsored by the Village, on the climate threats Hastings-on-Hudson should anticipate experiencing in the coming decades. We will discuss the likely effects of those threats on our key assets such as structures, services, parks, and populations in our Village. We will explore why those assets may be particularly threatened, and personal perceptions and experiences related to those assets and their vulnerabilities. We will discuss how the covid pandemic has already exposed some of these vulnerabilities, and we will identify which actions and solutions we should prioritize so as to best adapt to and mitigate climate change. The discussion is open to all residents. Prior to joining the discussion please view the short (16 minute) video on climate predictions for our Village, as well as a summary of the climate vulnerability survey results conducted by the Village earlier this year (see HERE for links) and please click HERE to register for the discussion.
Waterfront News
During the Board of Trustees Meeting last Tuesday I shared the news that “Hastings Waterfront LLC, an investment and development company in the National Resources Group, entered into an agreement to acquire the 28-acre property known as 1 River Street, Hastings-on-Hudson from Arco Environmental Remediation LLC (an affiliate of Atlantic Richfield).” The property is the northern most tranche of land on the Waterfront nearest to the train station. Our hopes are that this transaction will serve to speed up the remediation of the Waterfront.
Green Initiatives
During the covid epidemic when were unable to meet in person, we none-the-less were busy pursuing a number of cutting-edge green initiatives that are very much aligned with the principles outlined in the Governors Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. Below is a short description of three of these initiatives:
- NY Stretch Energy Code. On June 18, 2020, the Board of Trustees passed a resolution to adopt the New York Stretch Energy Code. Cognizant that the Village Green Building Code required revisions, the Village Conservation Commission, its Green Building Code Sub-Committee, the Village Building Inspector, and the Board of Trustees invited the NYSERDA team to present background on the New York Stretch Energy Code. The Village of Hastings-on-Hudson is one of the first municipalities in New York State to adopt the Code and is the first in Westchester County. The Village intends to integrate the NY Stretch Code into a planned update of the Green Building Code that was adopted on October 1, 2013.
- Open C-Pace Financing Law. On June 18, 2020, the Board of Trustees passed a local law known as “A Local Law to Establish a Sustainable Energy Loan Program (Open C-Pace) in the Village of Hastings-on-Hudson”. The local law establishes a program that will allow the Energy Improvement Corporation (EIC), a local development corporation, acting on behalf of the Village to make funds available to qualified property owners that will be repaid through charges on the real properties benefited by such funds. Qualified property owners (commercial property owners and not-for-profits) will be able to access financing for the installation of renewable energy systems and energy efficiency measures. This local law provides a method of implementing this arrangement, thereby allowing qualified property owners to receive low-cost, long-term dedicated financing for the installation of clean energy systems.
- Low-Embodied Carbon Concrete Resources. On May 18, 2020 the Board of Trustees passed a resolution committing the local government to promoting the use of low embodied carbon concrete products in building and infrastructure projects within the Village (see HERE for the full text of the Resolution). This resolution is part of a larger effort to reduce the Village’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Concrete is the most widely used construction material in the world. It is low cost, strong, and durable, and is a significant component of all building and infrastructure projects, including those of municipalities. Cement, the critical ingredient that gives the concrete its strength, is responsible for up to seven percent of the world's carbon dioxide emissions, mainly through a chemical process called calcination, as well as through the use of energy in production derived from the combustion of fossil fuels. Embodied carbon refers to the carbon emissions generated as a result of the manufacturing and transportation of materials and the construction of building and infrastructure projects. The simple act of switching to low-embodied carbon concrete can make a radical difference in lowering carbon emissions. Low-embodied concrete is concrete that has been verified, as measured by a Global Warming Potential (GWP) metric to embody lower carbon emissions as compared to the baseline embodied carbon emissions of conventional concrete. Lowering the embodied carbon emissions from concrete can be achieved through diverse methods and processes, including but not limited to: (a) using less cement in concrete mixes; (b) replacing or substituting cement with supplemental cementitious materials (SCMs) such as fly ash, blast furnace slag, or ground glass pozzolan; (c) using locally produced cement and other concrete components resulting in reduced emissions from transport; (d) the utilization and mineralization of carbon in concrete materials. The Village of Hastings-on-Hudson is the first municipality in New York State to publicly commit to promoting the use of this technology. On Tuesday, June 30 at 10:00 am, the Village will host a webinar titled, The Hastings Resolution: Decarbonizing Concrete Through Local Action. The webinar will be an illuminating resource for local government representatives, NYS Climate Smart Community coordinators, contractors and architects, and anyone interested in learning about the role low carbon concrete can play in decreasing global greenhouse gas emissions. Register for the webinar HERE.
Census 2020
We learned last week that we have hit our 2010 response rate of 76.2% and as of today our response rate is up to 76.3%. While we are thrilled to know that so many of you have responded already, we really want to up our numbers as much as we can. There are about 45 more days before the enumerators arrive at the doors of the people who haven’t responded, so if you haven’t yet filled in the US Census there are a bunch of ways to respond: online, by phone or by mail. Your invite contains your household’s Census ID, but even if you can’t find the invitation you can still respond. So … if you haven’t yet done so, you can complete the census online by clicking HERE, OR by calling 844-330-2020, OR by using the physical copy that has arrived in the mail. The whole process should only take 10 minutes and all the questions are straightforward.
As always, feel free to reach out to me if you have specific questions, concerns or stories to share: mayor@hastingsgov.org
Sincerely,
Nicola Armacost
Mayor